By Adam Studzinski
NORMAL – Any appointment made by President Obama to replace Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court isn’t likely to get approval from the U.S. Senate. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said they won’t hold hearings or take a vote on any appointment Obama makes.
It’s something Illinois State University Supreme Court Scholar Meghan Leonard called unprecedented, mainly because usually when a president is replacing a justice it’s due to a retirement.
“And they retire when a president of their political persuasion is in office, and so most of the time presidents are replacing somebody of the same ideology,” said Leonard. “For the Senate Republicans to say, ‘no hearings, no votes,’ that’s way outside of anything we’ve seen historically.”
Leonard added waiting until a new president is sworn in before naming a new Supreme Court justice could mean many split decisions from the court. She said this would leave a lot of important questions unanswered.
“Not just questions on abortion or affirmative action, but questions on who gets to vote in elections and how we count the number of people who should participate in elections,” Leonard said.
Leonard said Republicans are taking a risk and hoping a Republican president is elected, and not a Democrat.
Adam Studzinski can be reached at adam.studzinski@cumulus.com.
